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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| miertje Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4062 days ago 21 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, Russian, French | Message 1 of 5 29 April 2014 at 12:23pm | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone.
After some consideration I'm starting a log here as well. I'm studying (or rather; studying some here and some there) languages on my own, and I think it would be beneficial for me to have a log to keep myself accountable, and work through my lack of focus and/or motivation. And maybe receive some feedback from people who've been at it for a lot longer than I have and with more success. Even though I know that succes is completely subjective, since my goals might not be the same as others. Okay, before I ramble on too much.. I've been wanting and am somewhat trying to learn Russian for a while now. I'm definitely not focussed and I keep wanderlusting for other languages. Somehow I have this mental block that I cannot do it and that it's too difficult. I don't know if this has anything to do with Russian (even though reading everywhere and people saying to me how difficult it must be doesn't really help). I've become to love Polish and Spanish (and some others) a lot as well but in all of this I'm mostly confused what to do and how to do it. Therefore I'd decided to work through my lack of confidence and focus in language learning, and pick back up the languages I had in school (and a little in my family) and work on those for a bit. These are German and French. My goals for now are; - To read German everyday (even if it's only one page) - To do one lesson of Assimil French one day - and to watch one French tv program every other day Since I'm already kind of doing these and by keeping my goals simple, I'm hoping it'll improve my success rate. In a few weeks I'll re-evaluate the goals and work from there. Thanks for reading! Edited by miertje on 15 July 2014 at 12:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| miertje Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4062 days ago 21 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, Russian, French | Message 2 of 5 10 May 2014 at 5:01pm | IP Logged |
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German reading is going very well. I do not have very specific goals for German right
now except reading and enjoying it, so I'm happy! I couldn't stay away again from Russian so I've took up my Assimil again. Grammar is frustrating and confusing me. When doing the excercises I can't remember most of it. I'm contemplating letting go of understanding all of the grammar and just reading it over a few times. This will help to keep going with the course and stay motivated, but I'm not sure if it will do the learning process any good. I guess I'll find out sooner or later. :-) French, I don't know. My passion for Russian is definitely greater. I wish my comprehension was better so I just could go and read stuff and do fun things in this language, because I do like this language a lot and I love French cinema and music for example. I guess studying is not really my thing. I can't wait to get at an intermediate stage and just 'be' with these languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4526 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes  Studies: German | Message 3 of 5 10 May 2014 at 5:47pm | IP Logged |
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As a fellow German learner - Good luck!
I wouldn't worry too much about Russian. It is meant to take x2 longer to learn for an native English speaker (I assume the same is true for Dutch speakers). That's not to say it's impossible by any means, just that you can't expect to make the same sort of progress you have with other languages so quickly. I used to have Russian co-workers and it sounds like a beautiful language, but I have neither the time or discipline to learn it unfortunately. Once I get another year of German down, I am considering learning Spanish or French. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| miertje Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4062 days ago 21 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, Russian, French | Message 4 of 5 15 May 2014 at 10:03pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you! It's good to meet fellow learners.
I'm not sure I have the time or discipline to learn Russian, ;-) It is very different from Dutch. At the same time it's my first language to learn independently (outside of school, or family speaking it). Yesterday I watched an interesting French tv programme about history and historical buildings. I found I could understand a lot of it quite well, it was very motivating! It's weird that some days it feels like a language is so very foreign, while other days you feel like you're almost in the rhythm of the language, just tagging behind a bit late. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| miertje Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4062 days ago 21 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, Russian, French | Message 5 of 5 15 July 2014 at 1:39pm | IP Logged |
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I was taking part in the Super Challenge with French, German and Russian (half for
each), but I'm withdrawing with Russian and possibly later French. My level in Russian is not high enough I think. I was also doing the challenge not entirely the right way, I was a bit confused with what counted for the challenge. Now I'm refocussing. It's about enjoying the languages. I can get caught up in how others are learning and what I 'should' or 'shouldn't' do. Right now I'm enjoying German very much, so I'm going to focus on that. Everything besides this is good, but I'm letting go of all these goals en should's. In the fall I want to enroll in a Russian class in my town, I think this could be helpful. I hope it will be. :-) I've been reading the third Harry Potter in German, I'm pretty sure this is the first book I'm fully reading in the language. I had reading requirements when I took German in high school, but I don't think I really read any of it. I'm on page 220 something now. Yay! :-) I've not seen too many films, but I did watch (and enjoyed) "Die Welle", and watched some (parts of) documentary's on Arte. And a bit of "In aller Freundschaft" which is not really my thing (it reminds me of the Dutch "Goede tijden, slechte tijden") but comprehension wise was good. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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